Daily Archives:May 24th, 2022

It’s high time the government did something about this…

My friend Jon Crowcroft pointed out that a UK government website says their watchdog is going to take a closer look at algorithms, how websites and apps use them, and how they impact daily life.

The underlying motivation is no doubt a fine one, but it’s unfortunate reporting: the investigation of ‘algorithms’ reminds me a bit of those people who are suspicious of ‘chemicals’.

‘Algorithm’, my OED tells me, comes from the Middle English ‘algorism’, which in turn is named after the 8th/9th-century Arabic mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi — what a cool name! — who, amongst other achievements, invented algebra.

So it’s high time the government got around to investigating these algorithm things.

Friends don’t let their friends use TikTok

There are many reasons I’m glad we decided not to have kids. One is that I don’t have to worry about the amount of time they’re spending on TikTok.

Thanks to John & Pete Naughton for the link to Scott Galloway’s excellent article on the subject, which is well-worth reading. If you still have the attention span of anything more than a flea, that is.

Here’s a question. As people’s attention span has moved from books, to TV, to Netflix, to YouTube, to TikTok… are there any benefits? (Except to marketing organisations.) This is a serious question: I wonder if people are able to context-switch more quickly, for example, which might have the occasional advantage.

© Copyright Quentin Stafford-Fraser